Technical Field
The present invention relates to preference determination, and more particularly to determining user preferences by matching research and polling answers, with social profile data.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, social media (e.g., Facebook®, Twitter®, etc), and the related abundance of real-time data has transformed the fields of traditional media, research, and marketing. Traditional media outlets (e.g., television, radio, print, direct mail, etc.) are now facing the challenge of digital media channels transforming how businesses reach consumers with products, services, and brand messaging that transform the way customers are acquired.
A new paradigm for marketers and researchers has been created by social media platforms because of the storing of data in a non-anonymous, structured format. For example, Facebook® members use their real identities and generally report accurate information because they are using the platform as a primary communications tool to share information with friends, family, and colleagues. Additionally, users self-identify affinities on Facebook® (and other social media platforms) for products, services, and other variables by “Liking”, “Following”, “Sharing”, or by taking other actions depending on the social media platform being used.
There exist several challenges for marketers and researches in attempting to leverage social media data for preference determination purposes. For example, challenges include accessing the social media data in a permission based manner and structuring related data in a way that enables it to be predictive as to desired behaviors or outcomes. The first problem stems from the fact, that most relevant social media data is owned by the consumer and is generally inaccessible to marketers who deploy traditional market research methods. Secondly, even if permission is granted to use the personal social media data, there is currently no system or method which compares this data against other control groups to identify whether data points observed or provided by an individual are predictive of likely actions, affinities, or other desired outcomes.